18 replies to this topic

[MustrumRidcully]

Do you enjoy the current pace of the game?

By "pace of the game" I mean individual matches, not character advancement or the speed oyu earn C-Bills.

With pace I mean
1) How long does it typically take to engage enemies
2) How long does it take to take out an enemy (or be taken out)

The pace is typically a result of the general speed of mechs, as well as the damage they can put out over time, and how much damage they can take before they are defeated.


The first question is just - do you think the current pace is fine?
And in case you think it isn't, you can describe how you want to change it.
I can't possible put up all the possible answers, so I give some general ideas:
1) You may want it faster. Maybe you only want it happen under certain constrains (for example, when yo uget access to better techs, or you have learned more mech efficiencies and pilot skills.)
2) You want it to be slower. (Maybe you only want it to be slower while we don't have more advanced techs, or haven't access to mech efficiencies and pilot skills.
3) You like it generally, but there is some need for a tweak. For example, you may find the general pace of combat fine if people stick to center torso kills, but once head shots become viable against a mech (think of the Cataphract situation), you think the game becomes too fast and it would be better to protect against that. Or maybe you think that the pace is right at shor tranges, but long range combat is too slow and ineffective, and you think direct fire weapons with a long range need to be more effective.



The pace of the game can be affected by balance concerns and will affect balance concerns. For example, if you want the game pace to be at a fixed level, you may not be interested in having new tech to become stronger than old tech, at least not without the old tech also offering a defensive boost that negates the boost to offense. But that's a topic for another poll.


You may find this poll a bit familiar - I did have posts on pace of the game and tech level concerns u pbefore - but they may have been trying too much at once, and I got critique for the replies to be too loaded or specific. I hope I am more neutral this time.

[MustrumRidcully]

Quick questions. Can people reply to this topic? I've seen a few polls lately that were "Poll Only" threads and I am not sure how to activate (or rather deactivate) that.

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 23 November 2012 - 05:43 AM.

[stjobe]

MustrumRidcully, on 23 November 2012 - 05:43 AM, said:

Quick questions. Can people reply to this topic? I've seen a few polls lately that were "Poll Only" threads and I am not sure how to activate (or rather deactivate) that.

Yes, at least I can reply to this topic.

[MustrumRidcully]

stjobe, on 23 November 2012 - 05:44 AM, said:

Yes, at least I can reply to this topic.

Okay, than I can stop worrying.

[VictimEN]

Based on what I've seen, the current pace isn't bad. Stuff can die pretty quickly if you get to put everything into the same location without problems; mechs can also take a while to kill if damage gets spread around. For example, if I'm chasing an enemy light who runs in a straight line, he can often go down in a few volleys through his rear torso - although then I'm probably running in a straight line too, so the same could happen to me with about as much trouble. OTOH, in close range turning war, the same two light mechs can live a long time because lasers will barely hit, much less do full damage to the same location in rapid succession.

With large, coordinated premades, effective focus fire may make combat go significantly faster though.

[MustrumRidcully]

SO far it seems people like the current pace of the game, and of those that don't like it, it seems that more want it to be slower than faster (but most only need minor tweaks.)

Edited by MustrumRidcully, 24 November 2012 - 07:29 AM.

[Lusankya]

It all depends on the people you get in each match you get into. Sometimes you have a faster moving group that will try and engage early and hold an enemy near their own base and allow their own heavies to move in and try to get the upper hand. Sometimes both groups will be more defensive and it will take time and cautious movements before you even get a blip on radar. There are so many possibilities that you just never know what is going to happen from match to match which makes it exciting.

[MustrumRidcully]

Lusankya, on 24 November 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

It all depends on the people you get in each match you get into. Sometimes you have a faster moving group that will try and engage early and hold an enemy near their own base and allow their own heavies to move in and try to get the upper hand. Sometimes both groups will be more defensive and it will take time and cautious movements before you even get a blip on radar. There are so many possibilities that you just never know what is going to happen from match to match which makes it exciting.

Yeah, it can differ from match to match, of course one has to consider the averages. Or maybe you can also look at the extremes and say if they are okay or rare enough that it doesn't matter?

[Oy of MidWorld]

The pace of the actual combat is just right. Yet there need to be far bigger maps along with a gamemode where you don't actually know where the other team will drop, so scouting is required. Defenders defend multiple targets and attackers land in a dropship in one of several possible locations. A game should last more than 15, less than 30 minutes.

[MustrumRidcully]

Oy of MidWorld, on 26 November 2012 - 05:21 AM, said:

The pace of the actual combat is just right. Yet there need to be far bigger maps along with a gamemode where you don't actually know where the other team will drop, so scouting is required. Defenders defend multiple targets and attackers land in a dropship in one of several possible locations. A game should last more than 15, less than 30 minutes.

We'll see how big maps will get.. But I must say - currently a large part of a match just seems to be "find the enemy and duke it out". So maybe larger maps won't change all that much.

Though it may be interesting to see what people will do in Assault when they realize that even their lights won't get back fast enough to stop a capper.

[MustrumRidcully]

Hmm. Looks like not everyone is perfectly happy: http://mwomercs.com/...ost__p__1502069

[Tetatae Squawkins]

Pacing is one area where PGI is pretty much dead on.

[Sean von Steinike]

Combat pace is fine, but the maps are too small.

[Gooner]

I think the current pace is very good. Any faster and it loses the tactical element, any slower and it loses excitement.

[Kobold]

Once you actually engage people, the speed of combat is fine. It varies between one shot kills (love my Splatapult) and drawn out brawls between pea shooter mechs who think DPS is a meaningful statistic.

My main complaint is the whole "lets wait on either side of a ridge with no incentive to attack the other side" game mode. I'd like to see some more variety, and perhaps the current game mode replaced with (or at least supplemented by) an attack/defend mode.

[ciller]

I think the pacing is good. It's hard to slow down the game play when compared to table top. A battle in table top takes awhile because you always are rolling dice. A 10 second encounter that ends with a cored mech actually takes 10 minutes in table top sometimes. Longer. Most role playing gaming systems have this flaw, if you translate their rules into the real world, combat happens at a super human pace (dont get me started on Champions!) and its the same for Mechwarrior.

Im surprised the pacing has turned out as well as it did but they had to double armor values to bring the feel more in line. If I tweaked anything it would be an additional small boost to all armor on all the different chassis'. Maybe 2.5x armor instead of 2.0x (maybe a bit less). I want to extend melee battle time by just a little bit.
Then again maybe they need to nerf certain builds (like streak cats) that just put out too much damage in too small an area too quickly.

[Kobold]

ciller, on 28 November 2012 - 03:53 AM, said:

Then again maybe they need to nerf certain builds (like streak cats) that just put out too much damage in too small an area too quickly.

They've been telling us for months that streaks were never supposed to all hit the CT. They've just never fixed it.

[Latika]

I like the current pace of the gameplay. It is fast enough to get instant kills with focused team fire, and yet steady enough to save the feeling of piloting a giant heavy mech.

[Tetatae Squawkins]

ciller, on 28 November 2012 - 03:53 AM, said:

A 10 second encounter that ends with a cored mech actually takes 10 minutes in table top sometimes.

And sometimes a few hours.